Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: 11'li hece ölçüsü

Yeter cevr eylediň ey ruḥ-ı mâhım
Niceler bu ṭarz-ı revişden geçdi
Sana kâr itmedi zerrece âhım
Yeter âhım kûh-ı keşişden geçdi

In English

1. Enough, O you whose cheek is a moon, you have tormented me enough; many have given up this manner and this way. My sighs have not moved you in the least; enough, my sighs have passed over Mount Keşiş.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The quatrain is the beginning of a koşma recorded under the pen name Sürûrî on page 45 of the Merzifon Cönkü; since Hakverdioğlu gives only the first quatrain, the rest of the koşma is unknown. The lines have eleven syllables; the syllable count is ours. The second and fourth lines share the redif "-den geçdi" (passed over, gave up), with "reviş" and "keşiş" as the rhyme. The first and third lines also rhyme, in "mâhım" and "âhım". The repetition of "yeter" (enough) at the head of the first and fourth lines gives the stanza a weary tone of reproach.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The quatrain is the reproach of a lover weary of the beloved's torment. "Ruh-ı mâh" means moon-cheeked or moon-faced and is an address to the beloved. The second line can be read in two ways: many have given the beloved up because of this manner of hers; or many lovers have passed along this road and gone. "Tarz-ı reviş" means manner of behaviour, attitude. In the last two lines the lover says that his sighs have not touched the beloved in the least, whereas they have passed over mountains. Sighs piercing or crossing mountains is a familiar hyperbole in folk and divan poetry for the greatness of the pain of love. "Kûh-ı keşiş", Mount Keşiş, is the old name of Uludağ near Bursa; since other mountains in Anatolia bear this name too, which one the poet meant is not certain. The sigh failing to reach the beloved yet crossing the mountain sets up a veiled comparison between the hard-hearted beloved and the mountain: even the mountain gives way to the sigh, while the beloved's heart stays closed.

Historical Context

The poem is recorded in the Merzifon Cönkü under the pen name Sürûrî. Hakverdioğlu gives no information about this poet, and his identity has not been established in any other source; no link can be made with the known poets who used the same pen name. The poem is therefore attributed to this poet solely on the strength of the record in the cönk. Since the cönk is thought to have been compiled in Merzifon in the nineteenth century, the poem was among the words recited in the Merzifon gatherings of that period. The state of the sources is described in the article Sürûrî.

Bibliography

Online sources